


Demon made a mistake

by Tangerine20



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Watcher Entertainment RPF
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Blood and Gore, Crack, Demons, This is just silly, too many movie references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:13:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25107532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tangerine20/pseuds/Tangerine20
Summary: The demon was looking more than a little pissed.Shane didn’t blame them. He’d be too, if some supposedly ‘lowly humans’ were taunting him, making jokes about Hell, and all he could do in retaliation was turn flashlights on. Well, sucks to be them, no one told them to lurk in creepy old mansions waiting for lost people to clulessly wander in.
Relationships: Ryan Bergara & Shane Madej
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	Demon made a mistake

Ryan was screaming, as usual.

The flashlight was flickering on and off, signaling that ‘the demon’ was present. The demon, who was now by the flashlight after following them around the whole mansion throughout their shoot, was looking more than a little pissed. 

Shane didn’t blame them. He’d be too, if some supposedly ‘lowly humans’ were taunting him, making jokes about Hell, and all he could do in retaliation was turn flashlights on. Well, sucks to be them, no one told them to lurk in creepy old mansions waiting for lost people to clulessly wander in. 

The demon was now practically growling, and Ryan, in turn, seemed to be hyperventilating.

Shane moved closer to Ryan, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down Ryan. Flashlights do that sometimes, _you’ve_ seen it do that countless times before!” Shane said, trying not to laugh.

“Shut- Shut up, Shane, it turned on two times in a row-“

“Turned on?”

“I specifically asked it to turn it on and off two times in a row- and it’s never done that before-“ Ryan seemed truly shaken. Shane had to admire that. 

“They flicker all the time! The ground is uneven!”

“I- wha- what has the ground got to do with any of this?” Ryan said, momentarily distracted.

“I dunno, the ground is uneven, stuff happens.” Shane said, gesturing dismissively.

“That- you’re not making any sense.” Ryan said, but he was starting to calm down.

“You don’t make sense.”

Ryan was starting to smile. “Shut up, Shane.”

And back to their usual banter.

The demon, annoyed at being ignored, was flickering the flashlight more diligently. Shane ignored them.

Their dynamic was always the same, Shane the skeptic, Ryan the believer. Very ironic. He liked it.

After, when they were packing up their gears, Ryan turned to Shane saying, “what’s it gonna take to make you believe, man? I mean, I think that was one of the most compelling evidence we had on the show!”

Shane looked around, and sure enough, Devon was nearby. “maybe a full bodied apparition, or an actual demon that I can see with my own two eyes.” He said with a shrug.

Smiling, Ryan shaked his head, getting into the car. “I feel like you’re gonna see an actual demon, and think it’s just some guy cosplaying with horns.”

Haha. Very funny. “Actually yeah. I might just do that.” He said with a wink.

He had told Sara about his nature right away of course, and after the initial disbelief and panic, she had gotten over it suprisingly well. She said, “you know what, that actually explains a lot.” And then was cool with everything else, Bless her. Maybe not that. Shane certainly didn’t have any ability to _bless_ anyone.

They arrived at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul airport, and off they were back to LA. The plane ride was uneventful, the most exciting part being Ryan finding ‘Jurassic Park’ on the movies list. They landed, got into their respective cars, and went back home. All in all, an ok filming. Nothing too dangerous, with a fair amount of evidence filmed on camera. 

Surely this would be like any other episode.

\--

When Shane walked into the office next day, Ryan was already there, typing furiously at his keyboard. He seemed to be emailing back and forth with the mansion owner back in Minnesota. He had a frown on his face. 

“What is it? Did we break something?” asked Shane, making a point to make Ryan notice that Shane was looking into Ryan’s computer screen.

Ryan kept on typing. “Uh, no, but he says the basement has a stain that wasn’t there before. Something like soot? Up against the wall. I asked TJ, but he said the crew didn’t go anywhere near the back wall.”

“Huh. Is he going to charge us?” Shane asked. That was weird. He doesn’t remember-

“oh hey wait, he’s calling.”Ryan said, pulling out his phone. 

Shane could here the frantic shouting at the other end of the line, in tandem with Ryan’s more confused frown. The call ended, Ryan saying thank you’s and goodbye’s. 

Shane took a sip of his coffee, “what did he say?”

“Very weird stuff. He called the cleaning services to get rid of it, but when they showed up, the stain wasn’t there anymore. He seemed pretty creeped out. At least he’s not charging us anything, so there’s that.” Ryan said, closing the email tab.

“Maybe the demon got bored when we left and decided to play a little prank.” Shane said with a smile.

“I mean, maybe, who knows?”

“I was joking Ryan.”

Then Ryan looked up with a I-have-the-greatest-idea look on his face. “We should include this in the episode.”

“Whatever you say, Pretty sure it was just the house being old.” Shane said with a shrug.

“You’re not making sense again.”

“Better than you though.”

That’s what he said, but Shane was a little worried. He was back home, lounging on his sofa with Obi on his lap, Sara next to him trying to choose something to watch on Netflix with no avail. At least it happened after all of them were out of the mansion, or else it would’ve been messy. Soot that appears like that and goes away without a trace usually meant that a demon had fully manifested on the spot, and that was never a good sign. 

The demon he saw in the mansion didn’t seem to have enough power to manifest fully, which was the weird part. Most of the demons he encountered on locations, as few and far between them as they were, were all very low in the ‘strongness scale’ that Shane had set up. The low ones only being able to drop the tempreture a few degrees, maybe a shiver up a spine, the flashlight jig, but that was it. No real threat.

The strong ones though, he had yet to encounter on location, were able to fully manifest, and maybe posess a human or two. But there were ones above even that, Shane thought smugly, and they could just fashion a body for themselves and pretend to be human, mixing in with the population with none the wiser. 

The mansion demon, now Shane was starting to call it, barely had enough power to turn the flashlight on, so where did it find all the power to do what it did?

“Something wrong?”

Shane looked up, finding Sara looking at him. “Oh, uh.. it’s just, you know I went to Minnesota the other day.”

“Yeah?” Sara said, taking Obi into her lap.

“There was this little demon in the mansion we were shooting in, no big deal, just the usual weakling,”

“Usual weakling.” Sara said with a chuckle.

“It’s true! Anyway, nothing extraordinary happened, we finished the shoot, came back home and all that, but Ryan got a call this morning from the owner-”

“The mansion owner?”

“Yeah, the mansion owner. And apparently there was soot staining the basement wall- that was where the demon was in- and when he called the cleaning service, it disappeared.”

“Huh. That means..”

“Yeah, that there’s a high chance that a demon manifested near that wall.” Shane finished.

“But you said it was weak,” said Sara.

“That’s why it’s weird. It shouldn’t have had the power to do that,” said Shane.

“You should go back and kick its ass.”

“All the way back to Minnesota? I’m not immune to plane ticket prices you know.”

Sara frowned, “maybe it got angry with all the taunting and decided to call their friend back in Hell? You know, like a goon that can do the dirty stuff.”

“A goon that can do the dirty stuff?” Shane said with a laugh.

“Yeah! Like in Batman movies, the Penguin has all these goons to fight Batman for him.”

“I’m pretty sure the Penguin can fight on his own too, what with the fancy umbrella and all..” 

“Yeah, about that umbrella, you think ‘The Kingsman’ got that idea from the Penguin?” Sara said with a thoughtful look.

“Maybe.. but people did always fantasize about using an umbrella as a gun.. or was it just me?” 

Not realizing their conversation was going off track, they continued the debate about deadly umbrellas, the assasination of JFK coming up at one point, and decided to watch The Dark Knight for the night. No Penguin, but plenty of goons could be found in the movie.

Later, just before falling asleep, Shane decided that whatever manifested in the mansion was far away, harmless, and therefore none of his concern.

\--

Ryan scored the winning point, earning huge cheers and high-fives from the players and spectators alike. Steven and Zach were patting him on the back. The game was finally over, the players getting off the court to drink water and wipe sweat off their faces with their towels.

Over the years, Shane came to undersatand many things about Ryan Bergara, his obsession with basketball being an exception. However, being the good friend, he held a can of cold Powerade in his hands, and motioned Ryan to come over. 

He came jogging towards Shane, smiling brightly. Shane thought that smile could light up the world. Light it up and burn it in flames. He would never tire of seeing that beautiful, beautiful smile. 

“You okay, big guy? Hope you weren’t too bored.”

“It was alright,” Shane said with a smile, handing over the drink.

“Aww, you bought Powerade for me! That’s sweet.”

“It’s not that sweet. I noticed you won the game.”

Ryan laughed, “yeah, great observation there, Sherlock. I’m proud! You’re getting better!”

“Shut up Ryan. And if I’m Sherlock, then I’m assuming you think me attractive enough to be either R.D.J, or Benedict Cumberbatch.”

“I take it back. Where’s Sara? I thought she was with you?” says Ryan, taking a swig from his drink.

“She went off to buy snacks and got kidnapped by Quinta to do some video. Something about staying in an empty office overnight.” 

“Huh, Steven mentioned something like that. Tonight?” Ryan started to pack his sports bag.

“Yeah, so I was wondering, wanna come over for a movie night? You can stay over and we’ll go to the airport tomorrow together.”said Shane.

“Yeah sure, man, what are we watching?” 

They started to walk out of the gym. “Sara and I were actually marathoning Lord of the Rings, before she abandoned me for a video,” said Shane.

“You said she was kidnapped, and I didn’t even know you had Lord of the Rings.” Ryan said, checking his phone.

“How dare you, of course I have Lord of the Rings! And for that, you’re bringing your own popcorn,” Shane said with a smirk.

Ryan laughed, mock outrage on his face. “You heathen, don’t complain when I don’t give you any.”

\--

They watched the Two Towers, Shane making a point to remind Ryan that the big trees were not actually trees, but tree herders living in the woods to protect the forest and were called ‘Ents’. They both laughed at the scene where an Ent plunged his burning head into the rushing water.

The popcorn, or the bowl that used to have popcorn in it, was now laying upside down on the floor, courtesy of Obi the cat. 

The movie was almost over, Gandalf returning dramatically with the banished soldiers of Theoden, Eomer by his side. Shane briefly wondered if J.R.R. Tolkien made a deal with the Big Boss himself to create such a masterpiece. He made a mental note to ask, later.

Ryan was already half asleep on the sofa. Shane turned the TV off, cutting the ending credits. He flopped into his bed, sending a picture of Obi on Ryan’s face to Sara, who in response sent a picture of herself snuggled next to a potted plant on the floor. He fell asleep quickly after that, thinking of nothing.

Shane was back at the mansion. Ryan was next to him, flashlight directed at the staircase leading to the basement. The camera crew was with them, Mark at the rear end. They started to descend. It was quiet, nobody saying anything. Shane looked back, and saw that Mark was gone. Shane tried to say something to Ryan, but found that he couldn’t move his mouth. The stairs seemed endless. One by one, the crew disappeared. Shane and Ryan reached the bottom, surrounded by darkness. Shane could usually see through the darkness with ease, but in here, he couldn’t see a thing. 

Something moved in the shadows. Something malicious, something more powerful than Shane.

_You have been too arrogant._

Ryan suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders, hands shaking. Shane tried to turn to him to say that it was okay, they’ll be fine, but found that he still couldn’t say anything.

Ryan started to bleed. Blood trickling though his eyes, nose, and mouth. Shane could see terror in his eyes. Ryan was now clutching at him desperately, begging him to make it stop. Yet still Shane could not move a muscle. A grotesque, clawed hand reached out from the darkness, grabbing Ryan’s neck from behind. Ryan cried, screaming, and was dragged into the shadows.

The shadow now seemed to concentrate on one spot, forming a humanoid form. It whispered to him.

_They will die, because of you._

Shane woke with a start. 

\--

The hotel gate was crowded with tourists. Surely it was just a dream, Shane thought as he helped TJ load the equipment bags to the cart. If there was a demon powerful enough to send him visions and make him immobile, even if it was in a dream, he would have known.

They were in South Carolina, their next location being an abandoned asylum from 1988. Shane was pretty sure this place was safe, Ryan having already done the one demon episode this season, which was the mansion in Minnesota.

Shane still put a safety spell around everyone, just in case. Now any stray demons or ghosts will sense the spell, which was equivalent of a huge sign saying, ‘UNDER THE PROTECTION OF SHANE MADEJ - DO NOT APPROACH’, and stay away. 

Of course, any demons more powerful than him will just break the spell with ease, but again, Shane was positive none of the kind were in the vicinity. 

“D’you think these people are all here to see the asylum too?”

Shane smothered a laugh. “Sure Ryan, all these people will want to walk around a dirty old asylum instead of enjoying a nice day out on the beach.” 

Ryan smiled. “I was joking man. But this place is actually pretty famous. One of the most active locations in the U.S.”

Oh. Ryan didn’t mention that before. “I thought you were done with demons this season?” said Shane, cautiously.

“What? no, I meant ghosts.” said Ryan, pressing the elevator button for their floor. “This place is only ghosts. I’m not messing with anymore demons this season. That goddamned mansion was enough.”

Shane huffed in relief. “Oh. Good.”

“Why do you ask?” said Ryan with a smirk. “You scared?”

They stepped out of the elevator, TJ and Mark going to their own rooms with a sleepy goodbye, leaving the two of them to walk down the carpeted hallway.

Shane looked at Ryan. “Just making sure you don’t get too cocky, Bergara. God knows one of these days a big bad demon will get ya.”

Ryan laughed. “If I get kidnapped by a demon, I’m counting on you to rescue me.” He said with dripping sarcasm.

“Nah, I’ll just run in the other direction.”

“Fuck you too man,” said Ryan, kicking him in the shins, “So much for Ghoul buddies.”

\--  


The asylum, just like any other abandoned asylum, was dank and decrepit. It was night, and they were warpping up their shoot, the crew leaving them to stay overnight.

Not much evidence, despite Ryan’s confidence with the place. To be fair, Shane did see a stray ghost wandering around the second floor, but it wasn’t much compared to their other locations. But that wasn’t what worried Shane.

Ever since he entered the asylum, he could feel something watching him. Or rather, watching Ryan. It was a faint feeling, easily ignored, but it persisted throughout the whole shoot. Shane told himself he was being paranoid because of the dream, but when the crew went safely back to the hotel, he couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Ryan was adjusting the camera on the tripod next to their sleeping bags when they heard a faint creaking noise.

“It’s just the wind,” said Shane, before Ryan even had time to open his mouth.

“I- shut up, Shane.” Ryan said a laugh.

They went into their sleeping bags, Ryan answering an email on his phone before falling asleep fairly quickly.

Shane however, was wide awake, only closing his eyes and pretending to be asleep for the cameras. The insistent feeling of being watched, no, the feeling of something watching _Ryan_ \- was growing stronger every minute. 

At around three in the morning, Shane decided that enough was enough, and turned off the cameras to go find the source of his unease. If it was another demon, then Shane would either tell it to lay it off, or kick its ass back to hell. Gently. And if it was a demon more powerful than him, then well.. Shane hoped it didn’t come to that.

He went up the stairs to the third floor, walked down the hallway, and stopped in front of a room. The door was unlocked. There were a stacks of wooden crates around the room, all under a layer of dust. They hadn’t come into this particular room while filming. After all, it was a pretty big asylum. And if they had, Ryan would’ve lost his shit, considering the huge pentagram drawn up on the far side of the wall. It was behind the crates, and the room was dark enough that no one would’ve seen it, but with Shane’s eyes, it was hard to miss.

Just as he was about to touch the pentagram, a voice hissed behind him.

_You have been too arrogant._

Shane turned around in time to see the door slam shut. A figure walked out of the shadows. It looked like a man not any older than 30, but Shane could see the long years of eternity in his eyes. He was wearing a pitch black, well tailored suit, in contrast to his paper white face. He looked just like a human.

Okay so, a powerful demon. Probably stronger than Shane. He wondered why all his bad feelings always hit the mark.

He would need to play this carefully. Shane narrowed his eyes, saying, “who are you?”

Okay, Shane was never the best at playing carefully.

The demon didn’t answer.

“You’re certainly not that pathetic weakling of a demon back at the mansion,”

The demon, who was at that point staring down at him in contempt, bared his teeth at him.

 _You will not dare insult him!_

Huh, okay, not what he expected, but still a reaction. That’s a start.

“Okay.. so you obviously know him. Why, uh- What do _you_ have to do with _him_?”

The demon snarled at him.

 _You were tresspassing his grounds, mocking him with your little friends, and you do not expect him to execute revenge?_

“Uh.. that wasn’t my question-”

_His Mightyness called me in his time of need, and I am now here, to punish you._

His mighty- Jesus Christ, this guy really needs to get with the times. But the demon at least confirmed Shane’s suspicions about the mansion demon. The guy apparently was some authority figure in the past, and was weakened now, for whatever reason. Guess Sara’s theory about the goons were right. 

Shane sighed. “Look, I’m sorry I stomped around your, uh, friend’s apartment, I’ll make sure it won’t happen again. If you want me to go back and apologize, I’ll do that.” He said. “If you pay for the plane ticket prices” was left unsaid.

The demon laughed, a horrible sound grating his ears.

 _Apologize? No, you will be dead within the hour. But not before you watch your friend die._

Wait, what?

“Wait, what?”

_You have been too arrogant, and your friend will pay the price._

Before Shane could say anything, the door to the room opened, showing a sleepy Ryan shuffling in with his flashlight. The demon smiled in delight. “Shane? What’s going on? I heard something and you weren’t there-” 

“I- Ryan-”

“Who’s that?”, Ryan pointed his flashlight at the demon, who was now eyeing Ryan wickedly. Ryan frowned, turning back to Shane. “Shane, who’s that?”

“Uh, Ryan, this isn’t, this isn’t anything serious, I can get this sorted out, why don’t you.. why don’t you go back to sleep?” Shane’s valiant attempt to send Ryan away was responded with the demon stalking closer to Ryan.

_Can you not sense death, human, when you are looking at it?_

“Uh.. What?” Ryan now looked positively bewildered. “Shane, what the fuck’s going on?”

Oh this was going great, Shane thought gloomily. “Ryan, really, I can explain. If you could just-”

Ryan’s phone went off.

“Oh shit, sorry Shane, just a sec,” Ryan picked up the call. And proceeded to talk to it. Apparently it was Mari, judging by the voice Shane could hear over the phone, if not by the shy smile tugging at Ryan’s lips.

The demon looked perplexed. Shane didn’t blame him.

Ryan ended the call, putting his phone back in his pocket, and turned to them saying, “Sorry about that. Shane, you were saying something?”

“I-” Shane was going to make up an excuse. But now that he thought about it, the prospect of having to going through all that was exhausting. He was tired. He hadn’t slept well last night, rode a plane all the way across the country, and walked around all night searching for ghouls. He just wanted this to be over. “Okay. You know what? Fuck this. Ryan, that demon’s been fucking with my dreams and just threatened to muder you and then me because we shitted around that mansion and the demon there was pissed and called this guy to punish us.” He said in a rush.

Whew, it was nice to get all that out.

The demon, now looking more confused, looked at Shane and said,

_I don’t know what your game is, Dealmaker, but if you-_

What the demon was going to say, Shane would never know, due to the demon’s teeth being knocked into their own throat.

Ryan punched the demon in the face again, this time breaking its nose, then proceeded to tackle it to the ground. He was now twisting the poor bloke’s legs, breaking it, so much that Shane could see bone sticking out of the demon’s leg, splattering blood everywhere. Shane pinched the bridge of his nose. This was why he didn’t want to tell Ryan. Shane didn’t really like violence.

After what felt like an hour of sick bone crunching sounds and flesh being ripped apart, though it only could have been a few minutes, Ryan dusted off his clothes and turned back to Shane, leaving the now whimpering demon on the ground. He had a frown on his face. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Shane sputtered. “Why didn’t I - Well, why do you think, Ryan? Maybe I don’t like watching someone get their muscles ripped off their bones! And yes, even if that someone is a demon. And you always do that before you send them back to hell, and I thought that maybe this time I’ll be able to just- I don’t know, tell them nicely? Or just send them back with a more.. tame way of ass kicking.”

“Well it wouldn’t have worked, this guy’s more powerful than you.” Ryan said with a shrug.

“Yeah I know, but still, I wanted to try to avoid this..” Shane waved a hand in the general direction of the carnage, “situation.”

Ryan looked at it. “That’s fair.”

Shane looked at the now a simpering mess of a demon. It was barely recognizable, most of the flesh being ripped off or burnt. Ryan must have put some spell on it to stay in its human form, because it wasn’t making any attempts to turn back into a shadowy figure.

“So d’you uh, d’you wanna do the honors or should I just..” 

Ryan puffed out a breath, “nah, you can do it. You need practice anyway.”

“I need practice-” Shane wheezed out a laugh. “Are you seriously bringing up that time I tried to send you back to Hell?”

Ryan grinned. “Yeah. It failed horribly.”

“It was a joke!”

“The pentagram was pretty legit, and if you hadn’t messed up the spell, it would’ve worked.” Said Ryan, laughing.

“I intentionally messed up the spell, you know that! I wouldn’t want you gone, Ryan, you’re my friend!”

“Yeah but, I _am_ a demon and-”

“You’re my friend!”

“I- Jesus, okay! You’re the only human I’ve met who says ‘you’re my friend’ that forcefully. It sounds like a threat.”

Shane raised his eyebrows. “Maybe it is.” 

Ryan wheezed, shaking his head. “Just send this guy back to hell and put him out of his misery.”

“Sure, Ryan. I’ll put this guy’s misery, which you inflicted, out.”

“Shut up, Shane.”

Shane started to chant some encantations, sucking the demon back to Hell. It was always fascinating to watch, the demon turning into a wisp of smoke and spreading across the lines of the pentagon, eventually disappearing with it. An exact opposite image of _summoning_ a demon, which Shane had the privilege of witnessing when he summoned Ryan into his house in his early years of Buzzfeed. 

When the demon was safely banished, leaving only the friendly one behind, Shane was ready to sleep for a decade. Doing things like this always made him sleepy. 

They started to walk back to the room with their sleeping bags in it. 

“I wanna sleep on a bed.” Said Shane. 

“You wanna go back to the hotel? We could just say that I got too scared and bolted.” Ryan said as he reached his sleeping bag.

“Can we do that?”

Ryan shrugged. “Sure man, I’ll just leave TJ a message and you can sleep while I drive.”

Shane stifled a yawn. “Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.”

“No problem, bro. Get your stuff, I’ll get the car ready.” Ryan said, packing up the cameras.

“Okay.”

How Shane rolled his sleeping bag up without falling asleep was a mystery even to himself. He got in the car’s passanger seat and fell asleep the moment his forhead hit the glass window.

Later, when they arrived at the hotel parking lot, he distantly heard Ryan saying something. Still half asleep, he only caught the end, where Ryan said, “..and I’ll try to tone down the violence a bit, big guy, if it makes you uncomfortable.”

Shane murmured a small “thank you”, and fell right back to sleep, but not before catching the little smile Ryan sent his way.

\--

_-One week later-_

“So basically the guy just thought you were human and went, hey! Killing that guy seems like a good idea! And tried to.. do that.”

“Well, it means my disguise is working perfectly even to my fellow demons, so that’s nice to know. What was the dream about?”

“Oh, you know.. everyone dying, dark basements, stuff like that. You were actually pouring blood from your eyeholes!”

“Like that time you tried to send me back to hell with your shitty spell?”

“You’re never gonna let me live that down, are you?”

“Nope.”

“What are you gonna do with the mansion demon?”

“The mansion demon? Is that what you’re calling it now?”

“Have been, for some time.”

“I don’t know, maybe I’ll just send it back to hell. 

Gently.”

“Good, send me a picture, when you’re done. We should celebrate the first ever demon you sent back without a major bone fracture!”

“I said I’ll tone it down, not go all soft and squishy on them.”

“Without a major bone fracture, baby!”

“Shut up, Shane.”

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by that one Youtube comment saying Shane was only cocky because he's with the demon he summoned, Ryan.
> 
> 1) I know nothing about basketball.
> 
> 2) This is not a Powerade commercial.


End file.
